Reunited
Reunited Prologue Stars shone dully through the canopy of the darkened rainforest. Howler monkeys chattered in the trees and nightbirds swooped on their prey. Moths rested on a bed of leaves that had fallen to the rainforest floor. But not all was right. Thundering footsteps disturbed the leaves, making them swirl off the ground by the air rushing past. A few sets of legs pounded over a log and deeper into the forest. Everything settled again, but only for a minute before more legs ran across the forest floor. Wingbeats followed, chasing the first set of dragons deeper into the forest. The dragonets in the lead sped farther and farther into the heart of the trees, only to come to a stop before they could crash into a wall of fallen trees. They turned, seeing the older, darker dragons. The trio of dragonets was trapped, and their hunters came into view. The first was a SkyWing with wings of gold and black scales, looking so unusual that the dragonets determined they must have had a hybrid somewhere in their family. Next came a MudWing, with creamy brown scales and a long, twisting tail. Lastly was a SandWing, touching down from her flight. Her scales gleamed mesa red in the moonlight, illuminating her sharp tail barb. She hissed at the dragonets they had chased through Pyrrhia for almost six months. “Surrender,” she breathed, a tinge of fire escaping her lips. “And you shall die quickly.” The SandWing whipped out her tail, holding it high next to her head. “Surrender!” She said again, yelling this time. The MudWing touched the temperamental dragoness, speaking in a deep, throaty rasp. “Dustdevil,” he said, “calm down. We have talked about this a lot before-” Dustdevil, as the reddish SandWing was apparently called, lashed out at the MudWing, interrupting him. “No, Bison! This is our chance to get a job finally done! Look at them! Three tiny, helpless IceWing dragonets are worth this reward? It’s a ton! Blackhawk, tell him!” The SkyWing stayed away, seemingly staying away from the argument. He made some signs with his talons and tail that the IceWing dragonets couldn’t understand. Angry at whatever Blackhawk had “said,” Dustdevil threw herself at the nearest dragonet, the one in between a younger male and a female of the same age. Her tail barb pierced the dragonet’s chest, near her heart. That was when the chaos started. The dragonet fell to the ground, collapsing in a heap, blood flowing freely from her wound. One of the other dragonets screamed, the ear-splitting sound scaring away the birds and awakening animals. The other, male dragonet ran and took flight towards the north, fighting through branches until they were out of sight. The female dragonet took hold of the other, dragging her a few feet across the forest floor. But alas, Dustdevil ran, rabid with anger, towards the dragonet, hissing and lifting her tail to strike. At the last second, the dragonet followed her brother’s example, lifting off and going into the distance. The other two mercenaries tried to tackle the rogue member of their group, and succeeded. Blackhawk lashed her tail into a bundle with a vine while Bison roped Dustdevil’s mouth closed. Then the two males carried the dragoness away to who-knows-where, leaving the dragonet in a heap. Far away by now, the cautious siblings flew weakly to the west, sobbing in flight. The remaining female felt like her heart was broken but felt a glimmer of hope. “Maybe...she’s still…” Her brother turned his head. “Nix,” he said gently. “I think Alpaca is gone.” Back on the floor of the rainforest, Alpaca still was lying on the ground, her life slowly ebbing away. Suddenly, her fading vision caught a flash of orange. “Help, please…” Her weak voice carried across the air and Alpaca’s dulling hearing heard a shout, and she drifted off, expecting to never again wake up. Part One: Recovery Chapter One: Awakening Alpaca woke up in a hammock of soft leaves in a small hut. Her chest was bandaged with a large wad of a gauzy material, and she felt like she was frozen, a sensation she had never felt before. Suddenly, a bright green head popped up over hers, Alpaca eye-to-eye with the RainWing. “Hello!” The head said, changing in a kaleidoscopic manner to blue to red to orange. “How was your sleep?” Alpaca would have screamed, and she did in her mind, but her mouth would not open. “Oh yeah! You can’t move! I forgot!” The RainWing said, drooping a little. “But my name’s Cockatoo, and I will be your recovery partner!” The RainWing’s dizzying way of speaking and the way he changed colors so quickly was making Alpaca nauseous, but she didn’t throw up. “So you got stung by a SandWing, and then you got rescued by us and we stopped you from dying but you’re temporarily paralyzed so we are gonna help!” Cockatoo inspected Alpaca. “It looks like the least stiff part of you is your mouth, so let’s start!” He abruptly reached over and grabbed Alpaca’s jaws, surprising her. “Now, try to move with me…” Cockatoo slowly opened Alpaca’s mouth, closed it and repeated the process. Alpaca tried to move it as well, succeeding in opening a little gap. “Good, good! Now try again!” Alpaca did. The opening grew larger, and almost in slow motion, the IceWing dragonet began to speak. “What happened to Nix and Chinstrap?” She tried to say, but it came out more like “Wha hahened ho ix an minstap?” Cockatoo reached over and gently closed her mouth. “I think that’s enough for today. It’s time for food!” He reached over and grabbed a bowl of liquid from next to the hammock. “This is a special miracle berry tea. It will help you recover.” Cockatoo began spooning the warmish liquid into Alpaca’s mouth, and she fell asleep at the last swallow. Chapter Two: Fleeing Like Cowards Nix sped through the air, ignoring Chinstrap’s semi-comforting cries and sayings. She didn’t care. Her best friend and twin sister, Alpaca, was dead. Chinstrap would never know her pain. The worst part was the mercenaries might still be in the forest, so they couldn’t even go back for the body of their beloved sibling. As an IceWing, she knew she shouldn’t be feeling pain for her sister. But what did she know? Nix had never met any other IceWings outside her family. The cabin they had been born and raised in was in the SeaWing Kingdom, on a beach. Deep in thought, Nix spiraled down, following the path of a cliff, while Chinstrap struggled to follow with his small wings. “Wait up!” He called, his words almost drowned out by the rushing wind. Nix straightened mid-air and landed on a strong branch from a tree growing out of the cliffside. She glanced down, seeing the rainforest. Nix and Chinstrap were in the cloud forest area, high above most of the tropical trees. Animals like quetzals chirped above them in a large tree as Chinstrap landed beside Nix, panting loudly. “Nix! Just because Alpaca is...missing doesn’t mean you can act like this!” Chinstrap launched into one of his rants, beginning with “It must be hard, because-” When Nix cut him off. “You don’t know!” She exclaimed. “You’ll never know! Alpaca wasn’t YOUR twin! Alpaca wasn’t YOUR best friend! Alpaca is DEAD, Chinstrap, and you’ll never know what it’s like to have a part missing from your heart! You’ll never understand why I wish I had died with her instead of fleeing like a coward with you! Just leave me alone.” Nix turned away from Chinstrap, and sat brooding over her dark thoughts. But even as her brain told her Alpaca was dead, Nix’s heart still held a shred of hope with the thought that her twin was alive. Chapter Three: An Unexpected Visit Cockatoo watched Alpaca as she slept. This foreign tribe, the IceWings, were almost never seen by the RainWings. A few years back there had been a raid, but Queen Glory had signed a treaty with King Winter and they almost never saw each other, even now, when the IceWings had finally started to slough off their isolationist nature and socialize with other tribes. Heck, even the now-forty dragonets of destiny had barely had any contact with the IceWings prior the Jade Mountain Era, before the Shattered Prophecy came into being. The NightWings still lived in the village, and him, being the half-NightWing son of the queen should know. His father, Deathbringer, often told him stories, telling him about the old NightWing isle and his jobs around Pyrrhia. Kinkajou’s School for Awesome Dragonets was out of session for the summer, and it rained even more than usual. Cockatoo glanced out the window of the humid hut, seeing the downfall streaming from clouds. It was almost sun time, but it didn’t look like her would be attending today; a few hopeful RainWings and even a couple NightWings were out on a platform, getting soaked. Cockatoo looked toward the palace. The new palace had been built, and the giant vine building was covered in so many flowers that it looked like a rose with woven petals. The prince was prepared to lie down and sleep on the floor beside Alpaca when a blue-and-gold dragoness with pale eyes walked through the door, scratching her neck with a talon. Princess Anemone stood beside her, peeking her head through the door. “Hello Lady Tamarin,” Said Cockatoo, nodding. “Princess Anemone. Congratulations on the hatching! What did you name him?” Tamarin turned, pulling a tiny dragonet onto her back. He was gold with pink SeaWing markings glowing in the dim light of the cloudy day. The little dragonet sneezed delicately. “Prince Tetra.” Cockatoo nodded. “Good name.” For a dragonet of only five, he was good at diplomacy. He sighed as the rain bounded on. The tiny prince sneezed and jumped off Tamarin's back, fluttering his tiny wings to no avail before he crashed down. "Poor thing, he must be catching a cold," muttered Anemone. "I knew you shouldn't have brought him! Tuna will be worried sick if his little baby catches a cold!" Tuna, of course, was Tamarin's husband. He was one of Anemone's many brothers and had met Tamarin a year or two after Peacemaker had settled into the tribe, while Tamarin was examining SeaWing scrollmaking techniques. The two had become friends, then more. Together they had had an egg, Tetra. "Seems like he inherited the family clumsiness," came a voice from behind them, a merry and bouncing sort of tone. A bright pink dragonet hopped in, cheerful as can be. Cockatoo sighed and one of the healers in the hut groaned. "What is it, Trogon?" He asked. "You look fine." The pink dragonet dropped to the ground and rolled in woe, clutching his tail. "Oh, I am stricken with a terrible affliction! During fruit gathering, I spiked my tail on a vine!" Trogon held the tip of his tail up to see and revealed, somewhat dramatically, the tiniest scratch Cockatoo had ever seen. It had already scabbed over. "Go away Trogon! Go find your dad to help you," yelled a healer from the back. Trogon pouted but left. "Takes after his mother," said the same healer. "Tualang always thought everything was huge. I don't know why Jambu chose her as his mate." The healer shuffled into the light, revealing a wizened RainWing. "Grandma Loris!" Cried Cockatoo. "So glad to see you!" He wrapped Loris into a hug. Loris was Glory's mom. She was also a healer, who Cockatoo aspired to be like. "Ah, you too Cockatoo. I see you have a patient," Loris said with a sparkle in her eye. "I see you like her." Cockatoo recoiled. "EWWWW GRANDMA!" He cried. "NO!" Loris smiled. "Ha!" Alpaca stirred from a dreamless sleep, gaining a worried look from Anemone. “Is she alright?” She asked. Alpaca was perfectly fine. In fact, she was waking up. Again. The IceWing groaned, coming out as a muffled “Arrg.” Anemone watched her in concern. She was now the mother of two dragonets, Octopus and Jellyfish. She had married one of the late Whirlpool’s cousins, who was a very nice dragon around Anemone’s age. In the process of raising the dragonets, who were three, Anemone had gained a protective spirit, and she worried over the poor dragonet. Alpaca finally opened her eyes. The taste in her mouth was stale, and she needed to eat. She tried to speak before remembering her mouth couldn’t move, and sat there, waiting. It took exactly seven minutes before Cockatoo realized she was hungry. "Oh!" He turned to Anemone. "You're still cooking tonight, right?" Anemone was staying with Queen Glory. Anemone smiled. She loved cooking because it took her mind off her magic. "Yep." Chapter Four: A Delicious Smell It was about 5:00 when Anemone came out of the storehouse, holding different spices. Tuna alighted next to her, holding freshwater angelfish. On the sunny platforms, many RainWings were gathered, with tables set up where platters of roasted mangos and skewered treefrogs laid. The RainWings, ever since the events of 33 years ago, had begun to expand their horizons. Many now had a taste for frogs or fish as well as fruit.Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete) Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon) Category:Fanfictions Category:Content (Moondrifter)